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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2012)
8 Winter 2012 Applegater TRENDS AND OBSERVATIONS Bend but don’t break by RAUNO peRttU Because I spent my undergraduate years at the University of Oregon, I’ve always been a Ducks fan. I’m also a strong supporter of the Beavers, but I love my Ducks. Everyone knows about their potent offense, but this year’s Ducks football team also has a strong defense that is known for its “bend but don’t break” attitude. Several years ago, I appreciated the same attributes in two old and cracked poles. I’ll explain. Exploration geology can be a dangerous profession. Over the years, I’ve had several very close calls that could have ended very badly. Sometimes events were out of my control and, at other times, I was just being stupid. I’ve had close calls in helicopters and small planes, in vehicles on dangerous roads and on non-roads. I’ve hung from cliffs, and crawled around inside abandoned mines and third-world mine workings. It was in an abandoned mine in Chile where I met those “bend but don’t break” poles. Twenty years ago, I was more agile and sometimes willing to take foolish chances. I had been asked to check out a gold prospect in Chile’s Atacama Desert, which is the driest place on the planet, and is also one of the most mineralized places in the world. I arrived at the abandoned gold mine and met two local prospectors who were there to show me the property. They were very small and wiry with tanned and weathered faces. I guessed neither weighed more than 90 pounds. The prospectors led me into the old mine working, and a short distance inside, just far enough in that the light was starting to fade, they stopped. None of us had a flashlight. I doubt they owned one, and I hadn’t planned on being underground. Our access was blocked by a dark hole that stretched across the entire width of the confirm my worries, the poles made loud adit. This was a shaft that had been sunk popping sounds as I inched forward. The to reach lower levels of the mine. I threw popping sounds echoed off the adit walls, a rock into the dark shaft and listened as it and the poles bent ominously as I inched ricocheted off the shaft walls. The fading across the black void below. After what bounces told me the shaft was deep. I was seemed an eternity, I reached the other puzzled as to what the miners planned to side, with the poles (and me) still intact. show me. One of them went back toward On the other side, we walked a short the entry, and a few moments later came distance in the rapidly fading light and back with two long poles. The poles were came to the end of the adit. The rock wall old, only a very few inches thick, dry, with told me that the reason the adit ended and a spiraling wood grain and with deep cracks a shaft went down was because the gold along the grain. vein ended at the wall, I wondered where and the old miners had they had acquired these followed the ore shoot poles out here in the the only way they could, Twenty years desert where no plants which was downward. ago I was of any kind grew. Next, Our adventure over the I wondered what they pit and potential death more agile and planned to do with those had been a waste of time. sometimes poles. As I puzzled, Now I faced the willing to they laid the poles side prospect of recrossing by side across the 12- to the pit. I was relatively take foolish 15-foot-wide pit. In certain that I had chances. turn, each got onto his weakened the poles to hands and knees. They the point they couldn’t grasped the poles firmly possibly support me on with their hands and, the way back. I wanted as they scooted forward someone to be able to over the abyss, they placed their lower legs eventually haul my body out of that black at angles across the poles, and proceeded pit and ship it back home, so I insisted to “walk” across the gaping black hole by that they cross back first. They would be alternately sliding a hand and leg forward trapped if I went first and broke the poles. along the poles. They had clearly done this The prospectors crossed the pit with many times. little difficulty, although the poles now They crossed the shaft and beckoned made noises from their 90-pound weights. me to join them. This was one of my stupid My turn came, and I was almost certain moments. I got onto my hands and knees I was living my last moments. As I was and copied their actions. Unfortunately, I about a third of the way across, the poles was not 90 pounds; I weighed close to 200. sagged deeply, and one of the poles made an I didn’t think those poles looked nearly exceptionally loud pop. I froze and waited strong enough to support me. As if to a moment. Nothing further happened, enchanted Rauno Perttu 541-899-8036 jrperttu@charter.net from page 1 In the half-marathon (13.1 miles) Scott Breeden, 22, of Bloomington, Indiana, won overall with a time of 1:39:23. The first woman finisher, in fifth place overall, was 31-year old Becka Kern of Salem with a time of 1:53:33. One intrepid junior ran the half: TJ Hooks, 15, from Ashland, placed an impressive 16th overall. The 60-plus half-marathoners included Suzanne Ray, 60, Jacksonville; Douglas Naverson, 63, Jacksonville; David White, 68, Ashland; Tom Bedell, 63, Bandon; Tom Ahle, 63, Ashland; Jim Clover, 70, Applegate; Hank Smith, 64, Grants Pass; and Ted Warrick, 72, Applegate. Ted and Mary Warrick are the proprietors of Wooldridge Creek Winery with par tners Gr e g Pa n e i t z and Kara Olmo. Ted and Greg ran the half- marathon while Mary and Kara helped out at the finish line and the Wooldridge aid station. It takes a village to host an event like this, and without the Photos, left to right: Runners at the start of the Enchanted Forest Wine Run, and the Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts. many volunteers (Photos by Michael Lebowitz, LongRun Pictures. www.longrunpictures.com.) and sponsors it Hatter Timothy Olson, former two-time winner of Pine to Palms 100-mile run from Williams to Ashland, led the charge for ten youngsters on a quarter-mile run in the Wooldridge Creek vineyard. While the 117 runners in the 5K finished their vineyard run and enjoyed tasting Wooldridge Creek wines, and the ten children enjoyed playing with the Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts, 143 half- marathoners were sweating it out on the trails up the hill. After the finish, many seasoned runners admitted it was “one tough half,” including Jim Clover, owner and creator of the Clover Creek property trails. Jim said he felt more beat after that 13.1 miles than he did after a 50-mile run in South Dakota the previous month. The half-marathoners were rewarded for their so I cautiously continued. As I reached the other Rauno Perttu side, I felt I had survived a near- death experience. The miners asked me what I thought and I told them I was not encouraged by what I had seen. They immediately wanted me to go back across with them to look again. This time, I decided I had exhibited enough stupidity for one day and declined. Afterward, I sometimes wondered if I had weakened the poles enough that they eventually were unable to support even a 90-pound body, or if another, perhaps fatter, geologist was persuaded to attempt the crossing, only to disappear into that black pit. As I’ve gotten older and remembered geologists who were killed in various ways while doing exploration, and thought about my close calls, I’ve gotten more cautious. Still, those stupid adventures of yesterday make exciting memories, but I also remind myself you have to be around to have those memories. Some of my close calls have taught me important lessons. When I reflect on this one, the only lesson that comes to mind is “Don’t be so stupid!” As I write this, the Ducks haven’t yet had their key game at University of Southern California. I hope that their “bend but don’t break” defense helps them win that important game, just as my “bend but don’t break” poles allowed me to be around to enjoy that game. efforts with a lunch by Fulcrum Dining after the race. In the 5K, Eric Boehmer, 39, of Grants Pass won overall with a time of 20:34, with the first woman, Quinnan Picton, 32, Medford, placing fifth overall at 23:43. Other notable finishers in the 5K included the impressive juniors: Ally Waldron, 15, of Medford; Zavier Bodager, 10, Grants Pass; Hayden Ellis, 9, Ashland; Amanda Forrester, 14, Glendale; Joe Stranberg, 10, Ashland; and Jazmin Fox, 8, Medford. The 5K senior group included Peter Stevens, 64, of Newburgh, Indiana, in 15th place overall. Others in the over-60 age division were Linda Smith, 63, Grants Pass; and Beverly de la Fuente, 60, Montague, California. Fairy runners, left to right, Sydnee Fox and Jazmin Fox. (Photo by LongRun Pictures.) would not have been possible. Many thanks to Wooldridge Creek Winery, Noble Coffee, Fulcrum Dining, Pearl Izumi, Smith Optics, Ultraspire, Good People Run, High Gear, Rogue Valley Runners, Siskiyou Outback Race, First Endurance, Clover Creek Vineyards, Applegate Trails Association, and Southern Oregon Runners for all the help and great stuff! Big thanks also to all the runners who turned out to make this such a delightful success. We hope to see everyone back again next year for even more excitement and fun. Annette Parsons • 541-846-6656 aparsons@apbb.net
